State v. Celona

DECISION

The Defendant, John A. Celona, has moved for this Court to dismiss Counts 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the State's criminal indictment on the grounds that prosecution on these counts would violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of both the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Rhode Island, because the State, in effect, has already prosecuted the Defendant before the Rhode Island Ethics Commission.See generally, U.S. Const. amend. V; R.I. Const. art. I, § 7. The State counters that the fines imposed by the Ethics Commission are intended to be civil remedies and that "only…